A Sasuhina Christmas Story
by Live. Out. Loud
Summary: Merry Christmas everyone! Happy Birthday Hinata!


A Sasuhina Christmas Story

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For the first time in his life, Sasuke Uchiha was feeling unsure and a little stupid.

For almost half an hour now he had been crouched behind an abandoned, broken vegetable stand in the freezing snow.

All because of one stupid girl and his insane need to buy her a Christmas present.

Sasuke didn't even _like _Christmas. It was an unnecessary holiday filled with sentiments and the spread of holiday cheer, which to Sasuke sounded like a particularly gruesome disease.

When he was younger, he had once waited up for Santa Claus.

Of course, he had been armed to the teeth and intending to kill the fat man in red for breaking into his house every year. But that was close enough wasn't it?

So why on Earth was he out in the godforsaken cold?

For Hyuga Hinata, of course.

The girl had caught his eye some time ago when their teams had gone on a group mission to the Sand Village, and ever since then he couldn't seem to get her off of his mind.

So now it was December. Christmas—and her birthday, he had almost forgotten about that—was coming up and he wanted to get something for her, as ludicrous as that sounds. Unfortunately, he didn't know her that well, so he had absolutely no idea what to get her. He then decided to do the only reasonable thing.

Stake her out and gather information. So far it wasn't going well.

He had been trailing her, like any good ninja, from the moment she left her home. He followed her from store to store, and watched as she visited all of her friends, even those harlots, Sakura and Ino.

And yet, he still had no idea what to get her. It was already Christmas Eve; he was running out of time! Sasuke couldn't remember a time when he was more frustrated than this.

Finally, Hinata had left the current store, another plastic bag hanging from her wrist. She stopped briefly to bring her hands to her mouth, breathing warm air into her frozen palms. Sasuke couldn't help but note how pretty she looked in the falling snow, her delicate cheeks tinged pink, her shiny dark hair sprinkled with white flakes—

Sasuke could have hit himself, but that would have been unproductive and unbecoming of an Uchiha, so he refrained himself.

But just as he got up to follow Hinata, someone else slapped a strong tan hand on Sasuke's back.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, "What are you doing?"

"Naruto…not now" Sasuke sighed exasperatedly.

But the blond completely ignored him. "Hey, is that Hinata-chan? HEY, HIN—!"

Sasuke clamped a hand on Naruto's mouth before he could finish. Luckily Hinata was too far away to hear the idiot yell to her.

"Naruto, just go away now," Sasuke growled. He removed his hand from Naruto's mouth and started to follow after Hinata.

Naruto stood and looked between Sasuke and the retreating Hinata, then back and then back again. He repeated this motion a few times, before slowing a realization dawned on him. "Are you following Hinata?"

Sasuke paused, "…no."

Naruto's grin grew wider, and he began firing off questions faster than bullets. "You are aren't you? Why's that? Could it be that you want to get her a present for Christmas? But why do you want to get her something? Do you…like her?"

Sasuke's body went stiff. Normally he would have handled such an accusation with a cold, straight forward 'no', but for some reason he couldn't get the word out. Did he like her? Was that why he was acting strangely? He shook his head. That was…hard to answer.

While he wasn't paying attention, Naruto slung his arm around Sasuke's shoulders. "I have to admit, I'm a little surprised at you Sasuke. But I can't blame you, Hinata's kind of cute." Sasuke glared at his teammate, "Plus if you date Hinata, Sakura-chan will _have _to start liking me! You know what? You should get Hinata something fancy, but also something girly. Hmm…" Naruto tapped his chin in thought while Hinata was walking away. If he didn't leave now, Sasuke would have to make him leave.

"You should get her lingerie!"

Sasuke looked at Naruto, and then proceeded to punch him in the face. He stalked away, leaving Naruto lying battered in the snow. He didn't need the dobe's help; he already knew exactly what he was getting for Hinata.

--

It was Christmas morning, but instead of being at home, Hinata Hyuga was strolling through the deserted streets of Konoha, a large wicker basket swinging from the crook of her elbow. She had been going around to her friend's houses, dropping off last minute Christmas gifts. She just had one present left to give, but she was having some trouble finding the boy she wanted to give it to. Fortunately, she still had a few hours to kill before the big Hyuga Family Christmas Dinner, so she was in no rush.

Hinata absolutely loved Christmas. She loved seeing the looks on her friend's faces when she handed them her presents (especially when the looks on her family's faces were always so cold and dead panned, even on Christmas) and the warm feeling she always got this time of year.

Hinata herself had gotten many presents this year, though she hadn't asked for anything. She never usually wanted anything to begin with. But this year was different. This year she _had _wanted something, and even though it was something small and simple, she had been too timid to ask for it. All she wanted was a pair of gloves. She had gotten jewelry and expensive clothing (which she knew she wouldn't wear often), perfumes and weapons, but she was a little disheartened when she noticed the lack of gloves. But to be honest, it was more that Hinata needed new gloves because her old ones were in tatters, and if she hadn't spent all of her money on her friends, she would have bought them herself.

But the thoughts were quickly shoved aside when she saw the person she was looking for headed her way. Now he was standing in front of her, and Hinata felt her face warm up as she looked into Sasuke Uchiha's eyes.

"Hello, Hyuga-san," Hinata was taken aback by Sasuke's greeting. From what she knew about him, he almost never started a casual conversation, let alone swapped pleasantries with former classmates on the street. But she was glad she wasn't the first to speak.

"H-hello, Uchiha-san," she said shyly.

"You can call me Sasuke."

Hinata blinked, "W-what was that?"

Grudgingly, but as gently as he could, Sasuke repeated himself. "I said you can call me Sasuke."

"Oh…alright…Well, i-in that case, you can call me H-Hinata."

Sasuke nodded eyes downcast. They stayed quiet for some time, neither making a move to restart the flow of conversation.

But as she looked at him, Hinata could see that he wanted to say something. He just didn't seem to know how. And when she looked down she noticed that he was holding something behind his back.

After another few silent moments of Sasuke groping around in his mind for something to say, he couldn't handle it anymore, so instead he withdrew his hand from behind his back and thrust a small box in Hinata's direction.

She looked at the box, surprised, then to Sasuke and back. The package was wrapped in plain black paper, with a lighter black ribbon wrapped around it. Dazed, Hinata took the box and opened it.

And she smiled.

Inside was a pair of snow white gloves. They felt soft as she picked them up and in the bottom corner of one of them, she noticed a small cursive 'H' delicately sewn in black thread. They were beautiful.

"I noticed that you didn't have any," Sasuke explained gruffly, "and it looked like you needed some."

"Thank you," Hinata whispered as she slipped the gloves on, just loud enough for him to hear. She was so touched by this odd gesture that she had become speechless and a little teary-eyed, though she was quick to hide it.

Sasuke looked away, face suddenly feeling warm, "Merry Christmas," then as an afterthought, "and Happy Birthday." Then silently, he turned to leave.

Hinata listened to his footsteps crunch in the fresh snow for a long time before she remembered about his gift.

"Sasuke, wait!" she cried running after him. He stopped and curiously looked behind him. When she caught up with him, she pulled his present out of her basket and held it out to him, smiling.

Sasuke was surprised, and after a little hesitation he took the gift. The box was slightly bigger and longer than his, and covered in white paper. The ribbon tied around it was imprinted with shiny silver snowflakes. It had been a long time since he had accepted a present, and even longer since one had been given to him by someone he wasn't repulsed by.

He took off the lid of the box and found a simple black knitted scarf. It was the kind of scarf that had yarn tassels hanging off the end. It would come in handy for the long winters ahead, and was by far the best present he had ever received.

"Thank you."

Hinata watched as he gently picked up the scarf and examined it in an almost child-like wonder. He looked handsome with his dark hair framing his face, a stark contrast to his pale flawless skin, now turned slightly pink by the freezing cold. And what was even more attractive was the gentleness in his eyes as he looked at her gift. That unconcealed vulnerability that he hid from everyone else.

Hinata made a decision. Before she could chicken-out and change her mind, she stood up on her toes and lightly placed a kiss on Sasuke's cold cheek. She whispered, "Merry Christmas, Sasuke." Before turning to rush home, face blazing red.

Sasuke stared after incredulously, eyes widened in rare stupefaction. He raised a gloved hand to his face, touching the spot Hinata had kissed, making sure that it had not changed him somehow, or that it had even happened.

_Maybe, _Sasuke thought hazily, _Christmas isn't so bad after all._

--

Merry Christmas!


End file.
